Beast & Wonder Man Renew Their Bromance in A+X #12 with Christos Gage

They were the greatest of bros in the Marvel Universe. And this September, they’re back.

Art from A+X #12 by David Williams, colors by Veronica Gandini

Credit: Marvel Comics

This September, Beast and Wonder Man make their long-overdue reunion in the pages of A+X #12 and we’ve got writer Christos Gage and David Williams to thank for that. Beast, a founding X-Man, and Wonder Man, a long-time Avenger, met up when Beast joined Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and commenced one of comics’ most beloved bromances. And now, after Civil War, AvX and Wonder Man’s own brief descent into darkness, Hank and Simon are back on the same sides with a plan to live it up.

“Basically, it’s a reunion of the two former close friends who have been going in different directions lately,” said Gage. “It’s fun, hopefully funny, hopefully also poignant, and it has Absorbing Man, Pink Pearl and Poundcakes in it.”

Beast first met Wonder Man when he joined the Avengers in 1975’s Avengers #137, and the two have shared a host of adventures both in the main title, West Coast Avengers and even a miniseries titled Avengers Two: Wonder Man & Beast. Described as ‘sort of the “wild and crazy guys’ of the Avengers’ by Gage, this reunion has been a long-time coming for fans of those earlier adventures – and Gage counts himself as amongst them.

Art from A+X #12 by David Williams, colors by Veronica Gandini

Credit: Marvel Comics

“Well, first of all, I was a big fan of those classic stories from the late seventies and eighties,” the writer revealed. “But what makes it interesting (and fun) to me now is that things have changed so much for them. Wonder Man has adopted a code of non-violence, and not long ago tried to shut down the Avengers." Beast has brought his younger teenage self and the other original X-Men back from the past and come close to death.”

Art from A+X #12 by David Williams, colors by Veronica Gandini

Credit: Marvel Comics

Change is something both characters are familiar with. For Beast he’s gone through series of physical mutations over the years, while for Simon’s its been more of a change of heart as seen in his staunch opposition to the Avengers during the “Heroic Age” to his gradual shift back into the fold while helping rescue the long-thought-dead Wasp from the Microverse.

“Neither man is the same fun-loving party animal they were back in the day, and each has major issues with what the other has done,” says Gage. “So I thought it would be fun to see what it’s like when they get together now. Sort of like when old college friends meet up years later when their lives have gone in very different directions.”

Speaking of the other team-up in the book, Gage is working with Uncanny X-Force artist David Williams who is really digging deep to stay true to the history of this old-school Marvel team-up.

“[David] did an amazing job,” Gage says. “He captured exactly what I was looking for…it’s really lovely. And he draws a mean Leisure Suit Wonder Man and Ape Beast!”

Although just the reunion between Simon and Hank could eat up an entire story on its own, they also have to contend with the aforementioned villains which Gage says Williams draws beautifully.

Art from A+X #12 by David Williams, colors by Veronica Gandini

Credit: Marvel Comics

“Dave can do a giant Absorbing Man attacking Times Square with all the requisite gravitas and huge scale on one page, then the next page he can have Poundcakes hitting on Beast in a bar and it just cracks you up,” reveals the writer. “I hope people will check it out, because I think they’ll love it as much as I did. The man has incredible range! And he draws a pretty mean furry Beast too.”